


Humanity's Greatest Weapon

by hirusen



Series: The Tale Of Fireteam Praetor [2]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Canon Dialogue, Canon Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Destiny 2 Warmind Expansion, Gen, Guardian Lore, Language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:01:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27962711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hirusen/pseuds/hirusen
Summary: After receiving an S.O.S. on Mars, the fireteam finds something they thought was left behind on Earth.
Series: The Tale Of Fireteam Praetor [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1896535
Kudos: 2





	Humanity's Greatest Weapon

"Mars--the first place where humanity encountered the Traveler. Home to the Clovis Bray Research Facility, and lost wonders of the Golden Age. The icecaps have kept those wonders hidden for hundreds of years. But the return of the Traveler's Light has sounded an alarm heard throughout the system...and perhaps beyond." _"Is that why there's been so much activity on Mars now?"_ Echo asked over the comms, Aiden having finally brought everyone up to speed about the new landing zone that had been established mere hours ago. "Could be. But, since the Commander has forbade us from checking up on Rasputin, there's not much else we can go on." _"You really think he'd know what could be happening on Mars?"_ Nis asked and to be honest, Liam wasn't 100 percent sure.

"He could, he could not. It's hard to tell." Liam commented before they finally came out of the jump, quickly flying in to break orbit. Of course as they did, Liam had to quickly maneuver out of the way of a falling Warsat. _"What the hell?"_ Echo's voice rung out as Liam did a hasty scan of the Warsat that narrowly missed him. Of course that's when he picked up Red Legion ships on Mars. "Ah fuck." _"What?"_ "The Red War is over, but Ghaul's forces, what remains of them, have been scavenging during their retreat." _"We know. Why did you..?"_ Though Nis cut herself off as she put two and two together. _"There's Legion here on Mars, isn't there?"_

"And now that Warsats are falling out of orbit near Mars--this has been happening for a while--the Cabal are headed there too." Liam sighed deeply. They really didn't need this today. Not after helping another fireteam make their way through the Leviathan. "I'll plot a landing course." Aiden responded, Liam giving him a short smile despite the furrowing in his brow. As they descended, an alarm sounded over the comms channels, an alarm Liam knew well. "That's the private Vanguard channel!" And then suddenly an female voice rang over their comms.

_"Mayday! Mayday! Do you copy! Vanguard access code 0306... GET AWAY FROM MY GHOST, YOU FROZEN--"_ Followed by a quick gunshot. _"Guardian, requesting backup! I repeat! I need backup down here!"_ _How did she even get here in the first place?_ Mars hadn't been publicly marked as an active planet for Guardian Patrols; truth be told, Liam and his team are only heading here because he got a brief message from what he thinks is Rasputin that had been buried in a Warmind bunker on Io: a message that simply stated red sand and icecaps. But he knew where it meant. Did she receive the same message? Or is she here for another reason?

"This frequency is reserved for official Vanguard business. So, look, whoever this is..." _"That's cute! You've got one of the uptight ghosts."_ Echo desperately tried to muffle his chuckle over the comms. "Uptight?" Liam himself was smirking at his Ghost, because yeah Aiden was sometimes. Then they locked eyes and Liam quickly dropped his smirk, clearing this throat while he was at it, though his smile returned a moment later. _"I'm uploading coordinates to a safe landing zone. Please hurry."_ They were thankfully close to it. "Alright, but you're going to owe us for this one." _"I wouldn't have called you down here unless it was absolutely critical. The most dangerous weapon in this system is on this planet, and an entire army of Hive is trying to destroy it. I need your help."_

The trio transmatted onto solid ground, and Liam and Nis quickly took in the area. "Olympus Descent, Hellas Basin." "Near the Bray Facility?" Echo asked, and the others knew why. "We might find some answers for you, buddy." The Exo looked even more eager now to get to the Guardian that called them here. "We've touched down on the surface of Mars, Guardian. What's your status? Are you safe?" _"For now, but there's a whole lot of 'not safe' between us and the Clovis Bray facility, which is where we need to be."_ "What's so important there?" Nis asked, following Liam has he started to head down the slope. _"Warsats, like the one that almost hit you on approach, have been dropping out of the sky since I got here. Which usually means only one thing..."_

Liam felt a chill run down his spine. "Rasputin? The 'greatest weapon of the Golden Age' you were talking about? But...that's impossible." _"Nothing is impossible where Rasputin is concerned. Meet me at the facility."_ The group then hurried down the slope, quickly inspecting a flaming Warsat before heading into the mouth of any icy cave. "What are you thinking, Liam?" "...Could that have just been fragments of Rasputin that we met before? On the Comsodrome and Io?" "You think the full mind is located here?" "I do. Or at least, I'm more convinced after listening to that Guardian. She's eager to protect this place, and I'm not one hundred percent sure why." Echo was about to ask why Liam wasn't when the ground before them erupted and Hive coated in ice swarmed them.

The scout rifle Liam had recently recieved from his last endeavor was ripping through the Hive without much issue. "Remind me to try and get one of those someday." Echo loved himself a good scout, Liam only using it because the auto he had been using got trashed while saving a group of newly reborn Guardians from a rouge swarm of Taken. From the corner of his eye, however, Liam spotted Nis using her powers to absorb her Void grenade and he quickly ducked into cover, letting her take over. "You aren't gonna help?" Echo asked, though he had stayed in cover this whole time, his sniper out and scanning the balcony above for targets as they carefully crawled forward. " _You_ wanna challenge **that**?" The 'that' he was referring to was Nis quickly slaughtering the rest of the ambush within seconds, and Liam had a hunch she was half way to getting her Nova.

"I've never seen Hive like this before." Liam commented, toeing an Acolyte with his boot before they continued forward. _"As far as I know, they don't exist anywhere but here."_ "Great. They've adapted." Sometimes, Liam hates how quickly Hive can adapt to a region. They continued forward until a wall erupted, and a shield wielding sword Knight stepped through. Two shots of Liam's shotgun and it was dead. Of course, that's when the rest of the Hive that had been lying in wait swarmed up, but Nis shoved Liam out of the way just in time for Echo's shoulder charge to slam into the Hive, Arc crackling between all of them, killing off all of the Thrall in an instant. "I owe you dinner." "And I'll only take the finest of Exo dining." Nis rolled her eyes under her helmet, but laughed with her boys as they headed further in.

The ground trembled and more Hive swarmed in, the fireteam well versed in destroying Hive and cleaned up quickly, even when the wall crumbled and more of them filtered through. "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why you never stand near things that explode." Liam stated after killing the last Knight that had three cursed Thrall near it, and he quickly recieved the normal groans from his friends. As they reached what had to be the end of the cave, Liam turned his attention to a Warsat that had made its way through the earth. It was still active, and Aiden quickly scanned it, the mesmerizing pattern of seemingly hundreds of connecting points writhing dissipating moments later. "There's no reason for this satellite to have fallen from orbit. Something pulled it down." Aiden stated and Liam's concern grew. Was Rasputin really here? Ever since the Cosmodrome became restricted and then the Red War happened, Liam has been concerned for his old friend; Rasputin had put his trust in Liam before back on Earth, allowing him access to his must private and personal places to defend and protect him, but to meet up with him again after so long...

"He'll be the same as you remember him, I'm sure of it, Liam." Echo's voice snapped him out of his stupor and the Hunter gave his Titan friend a smile, even though he knows Echo can't actually see it. "Come on, I'm starting to get a little worried for the Guardian who called us here." Nis spoke up and Liam nodded, leading the group outside. "I think it might be time to call in help from the Vanguard." Aiden said, but... _"Not a great idea. Zavala won't be happy about us digging around Bray. He wants the past to stay buried. But we need to get in there to find out what's going on with Rasputin."_ "...Something tells me that the Commander will be more pissed at her rather than us." Nis was probably right.

Exiting the cave and entering the zone called Glacial Drift, they could see the Bray facility in the distance, and as they ran towards it, an explosion caught their attention, and Liam suddenly cried out in pain, crumbling to his knees. "LIAM!" His fireteam screamed, rushing to him as his Ghost appeared, quickly surveying the area and, "What was that?!" The trio glanced up in time to see the body of something long and large tunneling back underground. And they all knew what it had to have been since the moment Liam screamed in pain.

His Hive runes were now glowing bright enough to be seen through his armor.

That thing has to be a powerful Hive. There was no other explanation.

And like a swarm of spiders, Hive crawled out of the ground all around them and rushed them, Nis and Echo fighting off the closest group while Liam got back to his feet, joining the fray as they pushed forward. A large Ogre was summoned at the sealed doorway and Liam was eager to end this fight quickly, his Golden Gun flaring to life in his hand and with one precise shot, killed the Ogre, the rest of the Hive that was still alive quickly retreating. _"Guardians, you will with me?"_ "We're clear. Where to next?" _"We've found a Golden Age research facility buried inside a glacier. Where do you think? Meet me at the entrance to Clovis Bray."_

As they walked up to the sealed door, the sound of a Hive Knight's warcry caught their attention, quickly spinning around to see it charging at them, but then a single shot from behind killed it, revealing a female human Hunter. "Hey, you made it!" "Actually, yes. We did." Aiden responded, hearing like Liam did the small about of surprise in the Guardian's voice. "Well, there was a lot of them. But you did great." "Thanks." Echo stated with a shallow nod. "Come on, let's see what's hiding in here! Besides hoards and hoards of frozen Hive, I mean." Aiden and Liam looked at each other, and he swore he could almost see his Ghost raising an eyebrow as well.

Who the hell was she?


End file.
